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Funeral plans underway for shark attack victim

Funeral plans are being made for the 46-year-old swimmer who was killed by a shark at Auckland's Muriwai Beach yesterday.

Friends and family of Adam Strange gathered on the shore this morning for a special ceremony.

Muriwai Beach was more tranquil this morning, but the trauma of yesterday was clear on the faces of Mr Strange's family as kaumatua performed a karakia.

“That helped bring some closure to the raw part of things, so it found us all sort of just re-entering the water and just saying, ‘Hey look, we're reconnecting and we're not scared, and life will go on,'” says the Muriwai Surf Club’s Tim Jago.

The beach is still closed for safety and out of respect for the filmmaker killed by the sharks. He was a well-known member of the community and his short film, Aphrodite's Farm, played at the New Zealand Film Festival in 2008.

He worked on advertisements around the world, including one for Telecom, and helped fundraise for the surf club's new building.

“The last beer I had with him was Saturday afternoon when we were having the official opening, and he was as proud of punch of his contribution to it,” says Mr Jago.

Some of those who were on duty during yesterday's emergency were back at work today.

“It's just such a freak event. The sharks are always here and that's the first time anything like that's happened,” says Danny Tenheuvle - who knew Adam Strange - and says even though such attacks are rare, he's worried.

“That area that he was attacked is a place a lot of lifeguards swim. Not many public swim there but a lot of lifeguards swim there. So yeah, we'll be thinking about that for sure.”

The funeral will be held on Monday afternoon at the surf club Mr Strange worked so hard to fundraise for. The club says it's expecting a huge number of people to attend.